


close encounters of the furred kind

by penshy



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Cat/Human Hybrids, Catboy Chanyeol, Catboy Jongdae, Catboy Minseok, Catboys & Catgirls, Fluff, Homelessness, Hybrids, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-18
Updated: 2016-02-18
Packaged: 2018-05-21 12:50:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6052243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penshy/pseuds/penshy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>jongdae was the tempest; baekhyun was the arbiter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	close encounters of the furred kind

**Author's Note:**

> written for [daelightsaving](http://daelightsaving.livejournal.com/)! thank you to my lovely beta ree for taking the time to look over this! also thank you to marti for pushing me to finish this and make it as good as I can. also I apologize for the cliffhanger, that’s about as much awkward stuff I can even include in a fic. owell.

_There’s nothing that I’m frightened of when you hit my soul like lightning._

Thunderclouds swirled angrily above Baekhyun and he cowered from the rain that was currently pounding mercilessly on top of his umbrella. He dug inside his back pocket for his keys and grasped for the thin piece of metal, pulling it out with success and jamming it inside the door to his house. With much relief, Baekhyun scurried into the safety of his home and closed his umbrella, shaking the clusters of rain droplets onto the floor. He would have to clean that up later.

Running a hand through his now soaked hair, Baekhyun bent over and took off his shoes, set them on the doormat and stood up straight, stretching and cringing at how sore his muscles were, but that would have to wait. He hastened to the window by the back door, peering out with curious eyes. He didn’t see anyone, but maybe he would have to look closer. Leaving a hybrid in a weather like this wouldn’t turn out very well.

Baekhyun took the hobby of taking care of stray cats ever since he met Chanyeol, the friendly American Curl who showed up at his back doorstep pawing his way right into Baekhyun's heart. After that day, Chanyeol brought along his closest friend, a pretty Somali catboy named Minseok who seemed unaffected by Chanyeol’s boisterous nature. 

Every so often, an unknown stray would show up and Baekhyun would embrace it with open arms. His hobby went to the extent of being known around the strayhood as the “Goyang-i Eomma”. Baekhyun didn’t take that too lightly.

He doubted neither of the strays he took care of would be in his backyard at the time since the downpour was growing heavier. It wasn't like Chanyeol and Minseok to sit in the rain just for some food—they had other places to take shelter in, anyways.

Baekhyun was caught by surprise at the sight of a crumpled figure on his back patio, shivering and dirty. He gaped—it was impossible for it to be Chanyeol; it was way too small to even compare to the larger catboy. Hesitantly opening the door to get a closer look, his face was met with water as the rain was blown his way. He sputtered and stepped back, then leaning forward when he recovered.

"Minseok," Baekhyun started, stepping onto the concrete and cringing; his socks had become damp from the contact. 

"Minseok, is that you?" He made his way over to the tiny lump that definitely had ears and tail—a catboy or catgirl, but a rather tousled one at that. Finding where its head was and taking a quick glimpse at its hair, matted and filthy, he deemed it impossible for it to be anyone he knew.

He peeled away the arm that was covering its face and assumed the cat was unconscious; it had no reaction to his touch. Baekhyun sighed, thinking deep for a moment, and decided that he would have to take the hybrid into his care. If he could take care of most of the strays in the area then he could definitely take care of this one. He placed the loose figure onto his back somehow and made his way cautiously back into the safety of his house.

After setting it down gently on his couch, he took a good look at it face. Most of the skin that showed was covered in bruises and dirt. Its features were masculine, with high cheekbones and curled lips. He assumed the hybrid was a male. His attention moved to the long eyelashes that were currently fluttering open, revealing glossy black eyes.

The moment of silence was rather gracelessly interrupted as the catboy let out a long, broken howl and clawed his way off the couch, moving to hide behind it. Fear was plastered all over his face and his ears were flat on his head, tail lashing out with a new-found spirit.

Baekhyun stood, hands raised behind his hand with a shocked but innocent expression. “Hey, there. I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to help.” The catboy hissed again and shrunk back as Baekhyun stepped forward. _This isn’t going to work._ He made his way closer to the back of the couch until he was hovering over the cat, feigning innocence. A moment later and Baekhyun had jumped over the frame and on top of the hybrid, pinning him down with his weight.

He immediately regretted his decision. The catboy screeched and thrashed around, shooting long sharp claws up and scratching Baekhyun right in the face. The latter groaned and rolled off on the floor, allowing the hybrid to scramble away. _Well that didn’t work either._

“Fuck, this hurts,” Baekhyun cried, touching at the deep gash on his face and bringing his fingers level with his line of vision. His eyes widened at the sight of blood coating the appendages and he gagged, rubbing his hand on his jeans. 

After laying there for several minutes, Baekhyun stood and looked around for the hybrid; it was nowhere to be seen. Baekhyun sighed and gave up on his search, plopping down on his mostly shredded couch. 

Baekhyun was aware that the cat could come out and attack him at any moment but he assumed that it wouldn’t be doing that so soon. He started at the feeling of a hard object under his thigh and he dug it out from underneath him. _Ah._ His music player remote. Baekhyun clicked the on button and hit shuffle. A random song came on.

Humming to the tune, his voice gradually increased in volume and he was full-out singing, smiling to himself when he got through the song without error.

“Do that again.”

Baekhyun jumped at the voice that came from behind him. He shot up from the couch and turned, meeting a pair of dark eyes that were peering from behind the couch. 

Baekhyun gulped. “W-What?” he stuttered and internally cursed at himself. Nothing would turn out well if his fear was evident. 

The catboy cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes. “Can’t you hear, human? I told you to do that again.” Baekhyun was surprised that the boy was even talking to him after their quarrel. He clasped his hands behind his back and stared down at his shoes. “Uh,” Baekhyun started, fidgeting nervously, “Do you have a song preference?” 

The boy stood and waved a bruised hand dismissively. “Just sing the one from before,” he prompted, leaning on the back of the couch and staring at Baekhyun with curious eyes. 

“Um, ok.” Baekhyun picked up the remote and set it to replay and the song started, consuming the room with the same familiar melody from minutes ago. Baekhyun started with a shaky voice, noticing how the catboy smirked at him from his spot on the couch. At a pause, Baekhyun cleared his throat and closed his eyes, ignoring the presence of the other in the room and focusing on his singing.

When he finished the song, he opened his eyes and yelped, backing up from the boy who was inches from his face. “That was really good, human,” The hybrid complemented, mouth drawing up into a kitten smile. 

The back of Baekhyun’s knees his the coffee table and he stumbled before righting himself up. “I have a name, you know,” Baekhyun mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Well I’m Jongdae,” The hybrid announced with a grin. “I don’t care for your name. I’ll just call you human. Why am I here?” Jongdae asked, peering around to inspect Baekhyun’s house. 

Baekhyun frowned and crossed his arms. “I’m Baekhyun—” “I don’t care.” Jongdae interrupted him. Baekhyun huffed and glared at the other, who was only giving him a devious smirk. “You’re being rather rude to someone who basically saved you from that mess outside,” Baekhyun said, stomping his foot on the floor. 

He had never met a hybrid so stubborn before, how was he supposed to manage Jongdae?

Jongdae tilted his head to the side. “What do you mean? I was simply taking a good look at your yard and then suddenly I’m waking up in your house,” he argued. Baekhyun clenched his fist. “Well, if you take a good look at yourself, you clearly aren’t in the best state of health to go strolling around my property. If anything, it looks like you got jumped,” Baekhyun said, reaching out to Jongdae to point at the bruise on the hybrid’s face. He was answered with a scoff.

“Nonsense,” Jongdae snarked, tail lashing out from behind him. “I can take care of myself just fine.”

 _Is he blind?_ “Obviously not, you look like you’re about to faint. Are you hungry?” Jongdae hesitated before shaking his head no. Lie.

“I shouldn’t have even asked you that, of course you are. Don’t be so stubborn. Here, I’ll cook something. Take a bath while you wait for the food. You know how to work a shower, right?” Baekhyun asked, already making his way over to his bedroom. He smiled to himself as he heard Jongdae trail after him, muttering a “Yeah, I guess so”.

Baekhyun grabbed one of the spare sets of clothing he had for the strays and handed it to Jongdae, pointing out the bathroom before going to the open-up kitchen to make dinner. 

Baekhyun was no chef, but after having visitors nearly every day he learned how to cook simple efficient dishes that a human could at least digest.

Ten minutes later, Baekhyun was setting the dishes on the bar when he heard the water stop running in the shower. Jongdae came out wearing a simple white tee and plaid pajama pants, hair curly from the water and ears flicking around in irritation.

“Not a fan of showers?” Baekhyun asked as he set their plates down, sitting in his chair as he motioned for Jongdae to join him.

“I don’t like it when my ears get wet,’ Jongdae answered reaching a hand up to grab at his ears that wouldn’t stop moving. Baekhyun chuckled and Jongdae narrowed his eyes at him, “What?”

“That’s cute,” Baekhyun answered. Jongdae reddened and stabbed a fork into his food, eating it hotly as he tried to ignore the comment. Baekhyun could hear his tail thumping against the wood of the chair. _Even cuter._

\---

The weather got worse over the next days and Baekhyun couldn’t make it to work, so he stayed home with Jongdae and tended to the others’ injuries. 

“So do you know the reason behind these?” Baekhyun asked, motioning at all of the bruises littering the hybrid’s face and chest. Both of them were sitting on Baekhyun’s couch, the ripped parts of the furniture covered with blankets. The catboy had helped put the blankets on there with an apologetic smile. 

Jongdae scowled and flattened his ears. “How am I supposed to know, I _passed out,_ ” he retorted, thwacking the tip of his tail on Baekhyun’s wrist as the latter moved to press a wet hand towel on his back. 

“But yeah, I don’t have a very good reputation in the strayhood. The house cats don’t even like me.” Jongdae whined and shivered when Baekhyun reached a particularly deep cut that ran across his left shoulder blade. Baekhyun set the towel down and sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“What could you have done to get beat up like this?” Baekhyun asked, brows furrowed. Jongdae wasn’t _bad,_ he just appeared to have major trust issues when it came to strangers. But Baekhyun didn’t blame him, he probably wouldn’t survive if he were a stray himself. He wanted to help Jongdae as much as possible.

“I’m a Moggie,” Jongdae murmured. He rolled his eyes when Baekhyun gave him a blank stare. “I’m one of those mixed breeds. They call the mixed dogs mutts—the cat ones are moggies, get it? It’s simple. We’re usually mistreated, hell I don’t even know why.” Jongdae laid back on the cushion belly down, back arching as he momentarily stretched. Baekhyun didn’t know how the hybrid could even be so laid back about something like this; he had never heard of something so ridiculously unfair before, let alone for a hybrid stray.

Baekhyun hesitated before crouching down on the ground beside his sofa, reaching out a hand and scratching behind one of Jongdae’s soot black ears. The hybrid froze for a moment but soon enough melted into Baekhyun’s touch, a purr rumbling low in his throat.

“You’re okay now, Jongdae. You have me now,” Baekhyun said, patting Jongdae on the head. Jongdae’s mouth curled into a smile and he visibly relaxed. “That’s nice to hear.”

\---

Baekhyun was awoken by a deafening howl and he sat up so fast he thought he might’ve broken his neck just by the force. He looked around in panic and started at the sound of a crash and another scream. Jongdae. 

When Baekhyun reached the living room—the source of the commotion—he did not expect to see two figures on the floor; one was clawing mercilessly at the other, who was shielding its face with their arms. Baekhyun had no idea who the two were, but he assumed one of them had to be Jongdae since he was the one who screamed.

“What the hell! Stop!” Baekhyun yelled, diving in between the two to push them apart. He hissed in pain as Jongdae snagged a claw on his arm, but he kept his hold on the two until both of them stopped thrashing around.

“Who is this! Why is he in your house, human!” Jongdae screeched, grabbing Baekhyun’s arm and yanking him back so he was behind Jongdae’s defensive form. Baekhyun took a glance over Jongdae’s shoulder and instantly recognized who it was; no one could possibly mistake the tall lanky catboy with curled ears as anyone else but Chanyeol.

“Chanyeol?” Baekhyun asked, walking out from behind Jongdae to take a closer look. It was still too dark to see any distinct facial features.

“Yeah, hi Baekhyun,” Chanyeol groaned, curling in on himself as he nursed a wound on his face. Baekhyun scowled and turned to Jongdae with his arms crossed. “Turn the lights on, Jongdae.” When the room was illuminated into a dull yellow Baekhyun took a glance at Chanyeol and cringed; there were several scratch marks littered across his face and his lip was bleeding. Chanyeol groaned as he held his waist (which was most likely bruised.) Ouch.

\---

Baekhyun and the two hybrids sat at the dining table, Jongdae on the opposite side of Chanyeol for...safety reasons. Chanyeol‘s face was bandaged up from Baekhyun’s handiwork and he had an ice pack in his possession, tossing it to each hand as he avoided Jongdae’s stare. Baekhyun’s face was in his own hands. They looked up as Jongdae huffed.

“I know you take care of all the strays and stuff, but how did he manage to get in?” Jongdae asked. Chanyeol rolled his eyes and reached back into his pocket, returning with a key grasped tightly in his hand. “Baekhyun gave this to me a while back so I could come in whenever I want.”

“Oh,” Jongdae said, leaning back in his chair. 

“So are you going to apologize?” Chanyeol asked.

“Why should I?”

“ _Jongdae,_ ” Baekhyun fussed.

“Fine, I’m sorry for mauling your face. And your stupid curly ears,” Jongdae said, smirking when Baekhyun’s jaw dropped open and he flailed. Baekhyun was about to say something when Chanyeol’s booming laughter filled the room. 

“No hard feelings, kitty cat. I see what’s going on here,” Chanyeol wiggled his eyebrows. “It’s good that you protected Goyangi-i Eomma like that; because let’s be honest here, he wouldn’t stand a chance against me.” Baekhyun whined, both at the nickname and the insult. 

When Chanyeol left—he refused to be helped any more, most of the strays were like that—Baekhyun sat in the living room with Jongdae. He had already been awake too long to go back to sleep so he busied himself with a book while Jongdae fiddled around the shelves and furniture. 

Eventually, Jongdae seated himself on the couch and adjusted himself, scooting closer to Baekhyun and curling around the latter with his head rested on his shoulder. Baekhyun reached up a hand and scratched at Jongdae’s ears, the hybrid purring deeply and nuzzling the size of Baekhyun’s face. “So clingy,” Baekhyun commented. Moments later, they fell back asleep like that.

\---

The weather had cleared up, but Jongdae did not go with the storm. He seemed to have dug himself a permanent residence in Baekhyun’s mind, even when the catboy wasn’t around. Jongdae stayed in the guest room, his bed usually filled with multitudes of pillows and blankets. Baekhyun guessed Jongdae hadn’t experienced luxury like a shelter in a long time, or even never, so he didn’t mind company. He enjoyed petting Jongdae and pampering him, even though the baths weren’t very appreciated by Jongdae. 

The catboy got progressively clingier and clingier, attaching to Baekhyun at any moment and giving the human as much affection as possible. Baekhyun found it weird since their meeting was nothing like how they became, but he didn’t ask Jongdae the reason. 

Minseok had visited a few times over the course of a week; Chanyeol didn’t (Baekhyun guessed he was avoiding Jongdae.) Each time Minseok visited, Jongdae would not leave Baekhyun alone with the other hybrid for one second. In the most recent visit, Jongdae was attached to his side, tail curled around his right thigh when Minseok snarked about how close they were over the course of a few weeks. 

“At least I don’t go around throwing my pheromones everywhere. You _reek_ of them,” Jongdae hissed, grip on Baekhyun’s arm tightening so his claws dug into his shirt. That sure shut the Somali hybrid up.

After Minseok left, Baekhyun lectured Jongdae on how he should learn how to control his anger sometimes.

“Make me,” Jongdae said. Baekhyun locked the hybrid inside his room instead.

\---

The most difficult time of the day, other than when other strays would visit, was in the mornings when Baekhyun had to go to work. It was no surprise that Baekhyun worked at a hybrid shelter. He never bothered to adopt a hybrid because he basically had a whole neighborhood of them to take care of. Ironic.

Jongdae would stall him as much as possible, hanging on Baekhyun’s back when the latter was making breakfast or asking Baekhyun where things were so he took longer to leave. Baekhyun had caught on soon enough, though, so he mainly ignored Jongdae. When he would open the door to leave, he always made sure Jongdae was okay before leaving. He tried to forget the sad look on Jongdae’s face when he walked down the apartment hallway.

So he knew something was up when Jongdae didn’t show up in the kitchen in the morning, or call out to him with that same whiny voice he always uses when asking for something. Baekhyun shrugged it off and assumed the catboy was still sleeping. They had stayed up late enough reading—well Baekhyun was reading, Jongdae was stuck like glue to his side, legs draped over Baekhyun’s lap as he purred into the crook of Baekhyun’s neck. 

_He’s probably sleeping in,_ Baekhyun thought, opening the door to leave the apartment. He’d left a note on the counter that says if Jongdae’s sick there’s medicine in the cabinet, and _“Have a great day! :D”_

What he didn’t expect was a sudden force to hurl itself into Baekhyun so hard that the door slammed behind him as he braced himself against it. All he saw was a mess of black hair and twitching ears. _Jongdae?_ He froze as he felt light breathing on his ear.

“Baekhyunnie~” Jongdae whined, nosing along the column of Baekhyun’s neck. He visibly reddened. That was the first time Jongdae had said his name, and to say his _nickname_ at that was a step ahead. 

“Please stay,” Jongdae begged, wrapping his arms around Baekhyun’s neck, tail curling between his legs. _Holy shit._

Jongdae pressed his body flush to Baekhyun’s noses bumping up against each other as Jongdae came eye-to-eye with Baekhyun. “I can’t let you go around like this anymore, Baekhyunnie. All of those hybrids’ scents are covering you. You’re mine, I must mark you as mine so they will leave you alone. You’re _mine._ ” Jongdae repeated the phrase over and over as his lips hovered around Baekhyun’s face.

No, he couldn’t resist himself anymore. At least he tried. It had been a month holding himself back, and the opportunity was baring itself right in front of him. He grabbed Jongdae by the waist and spun around so he had Jongdae pressed against the door, the frame rattling from the force. He slid his hands under Jongdae’s nightshirt and held his waist as Jongdae writhed against him.

Their lips connected into a heated kiss and when they broke apart, mouths swollen and cherry red, Baekhyun connected their foreheads together and he smiled at the hybrid.

“Please stay,” Jongdae begged.

“Only if you stay here with me forever.” Jongdae froze at that and gave the other a queer look, still panting on Baekhyun’s face.

“What?” Jongdae asked. Maybe he misheard.

“I want you to stay with me.” Nope, he didn’t mishear anything.

“You want to adopt me? Like, keep me here with you?” 

“Only if you want me to.” Baekhyun pinched Jongdae’s side and he squirmed playfully. Jongdae bit his lip and stayed silent for a few moments, and Baekhyun grew increasingly worried, because maybe he shouldn’t of said that.

“...Okay.” 

Baekhyun’s eyes bugged. “Really?” he asked. Jongdae rolled his eyes. “Yes, I will. Now, can we keep on with what we were doing before you decided to be all stupid?” 

_Oh yeah._

That day, Baekhyun didn’t go to work.

  



End file.
